According to Lincolnton Police Chief Rodney Jordan, Costnerâ€™s death was initially reported to police as a possible suicide.
Investigators said Black claimed she died while he was napping on the couch, but police noted the scene was nothing short of a murder.

Costner sustained multiple stab wounds and head trauma, authorities said. According to Kim Green, public information officer for Emergency Medical Services, Costner was in cardiac arrest when EMS crews arrived on scene around 1:30 p.m.

Public records show that Blackâ€™s no stranger to the law.Heâ€™s been in and out of handcuffs for decades for drug-related charges, assault charges, larceny, DWI and a bomb threat, and according to the North Carolina Department of Correction, he has at least three felony convictions on his record.

The Clerk of Courtâ€™s Office said Marty Shuford, of Lewis & Shuford, P.A., in Lincolnton, is representing Black but that a prosecutor has yet to be assigned to the case.
Authorities at Wake Baptist Seminary Hospital in Winston-Salem are performing an autopsy on Costnerâ€™s remains.

Costner is the cityâ€™s first homicide victim of 2012 and the second victim in four years, investigators said.